


Things Change

by SeemsRatherSketchy



Category: Kuroko no Basuke | Kuroko's Basketball
Genre: But very quickly, Friends to Lovers, Kagami is a moron but that's why we love him, M/M, and neither of them can sleep, kuroko is very perceptive
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-02-03
Updated: 2015-02-03
Packaged: 2018-03-10 07:16:51
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,753
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3281675
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SeemsRatherSketchy/pseuds/SeemsRatherSketchy
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Kuroko gets a call on the eve of the Winter Cup game versus Touou. Of course it's Kagami.<br/>Naturally, Kagami cannot sleep, so Kuroko pays him a visit.<br/>Things change very quickly.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Things Change

It was around 9:00 pm on the eve of the Touou game of Seirin's first ever Winter Cup when Kuroko got the call.

As soon as his cellphone rang he was sure he knew exactly who it was, and he was right. 

Who else would call him at such an hour out of the blue besides Kagami? 

Maybe once Aomine might have, but not anymore. Probably not ever again. 

Surprisingly, Kuroko was fine with the thought as it surfaced in his mind. All he really wanted from Aomine now was a win. Things change, Kuroko had recently realized, and that's perfectly okay. 

It was with this thought that he realized he had allowed the call to go to voicemail as the shrill sound of his ringtone faded out. 

Ah, his ringtone. He had recorded Kagami screaming in fear while chasing him around with Nigou, concluding (correctly, of course) that it would make a perfect ringtone. 

Kuroko smiled to himself and redialed Kagami's number. It wasn't hard, because it was number two on his speed dial. Number one was his mother. 

"Kagami-kun." He answered when the other finally picked up. The line was silent for a mere three seconds. 

"Hey." Kagami replied, sounding subdued and a little bit exhausted. The rare fatigue gave Kagami's voice a gentler timbre that Kuroko was sure only he would notice. 

It's the little things that count. 

"Are you unable to sleep, Kagami-kun?" He asked, voice taking on an affectionate edge involuntarily. Blast his soft spot for the silly redhead. 

"Yeah," a short pause, "Sorry for bugging you, it's just... You usually know what to do. Mostly." 

Kuroko hummed in response. 

"Uh, I can... Hang up. Sorry. D-did I wake you o-or--?"

"No, Kagami-kun's call is actually expected. We do have an incredibly important game tomorrow, after all." Kuroko said, glancing at Nigou snoozing peacefully in his plush bed at the foot of Kuroko's own. At least someone could get to sleep. Kuroko smiled softly. He was surrounded by endearing things all the time now, wasn't he?

"Yeah. I'm glad I didn't, uh, wake you up. Sorry if this is rude. I keep trying, but... Once the excitement for the game passed I just got frustrated when I couldn't, y'know... Sleep. And..."

"And?" Kuroko inquired, having a feeling he knew what Kagami was going to say.

"And... You're the only... Only you can ever really help me calm down, is all... 'Cept for Tatsuya, once, but, well... Things change, y'know?"

Kuroko felt himself bristle a bit at the mention of Himuro. He reigned himself in.

"Yes. I know." 

The line was silent for a few seconds.

"I could come over, you know. The last train to Kagami-kun's isn't for a while."

"Ah! Y-you don't have to do that! It's fine! I'm sorry for bugging you! You need to sleep, too! Seriously, I -"

"Kagami-kun," Kuroko interjected, a small smile touching his mouth, "It is fine. I am having trouble sleeping, as well. In fact, if I spent the night, tomorrow we could go to the game together." 

Kuroko's mother, still watching television in the living room, had already given her son the okay to go before Kagami, sputtering on the other end of the call, had agreed to allow him to come over. 

For some reason Kagami was reluctant to "allow" Kuroko to go out alone at night. Kuroko reminded him that this was Japan, not Los Angeles, and that he was neither fragile nor noticeable to any other travelers. He rolled his eyes at Kagami's anxious stutters and faulty logic, but finally the stubborn redhead caved. 

When it came to Kuroko, he always did. 

Kuroko smiled. 

It was of no consequence how the packing or the trip to Kagami's went, as no one noticed Kuroko or gave him any trouble.

Kuroko arrived at Kagami's with his shock of ice-blue hair in disarray, his face a deadpan mask of neutrality, and his Seirin bag slung over his shoulder. Upon seeing his friend at the door, Kagami swept him inside quickly, eyes darting to and fro about the hallway of the apartment complex shiftily. He shut and bolted the door hastily, whirling around only to come nose-to-nose with Kuroko. 

"Is Kagami-kun embarrassed by my arrival? Surely your neighbors won't think anything of you manhandling a strange boy into your home late at night and then looking around suspiciously." Kuroko joked, eyes glinting in good humor. 

Kagami, startled by the unexpected proximity to his smaller friend and turning thoroughly red at Kuroko's suggestion, looked positively comical. A few seconds ticked by and Kuroko knew exactly what was coming. 

"D-don't say such embarrassing things, you moron! Just making sure no one followed you here!" Kagami shrieked, eyebrows furrowing comically. Yes, just as Kuroko had thought.

"Kagami-kun really should keep it down, should the neighbors' suspicions be confirmed by your loud voice." A small smile played on Kuroko's lips, and seeing the expression, Kagami's blush faded a little and his brows drew back up. Kuroko noticed Kagami's lips twitch up a hint, and so did his own. 

"Sorry. Thanks for coming over." Kagami said, hand moving to the back of his neck. "Um, are you hungry or thirsty or anything? A few days ago I was fooling around in the kitchen and I made a pretty good vanilla milkshake, if I do say so myself..." The redhead'a bashful look stirred something in Kuroko's mind, an inkling of a sort tugged at his brain. Kagami didn't like vanilla milkshakes all that much, so he was testing out recipes for Kuroko, probably. 

Kuroko felt his heart wobble a little in his chest. 

"Perhaps in the morning. For now, why don't we talk? Sometimes one just needs a little help sorting through his thoughts, I think." Kuroko said, tiling his head towards the couch. Kagami nodded and loped over to it, settling down heavily. He looked Kuroko up and down and frowned. 

"Ah, shouldn't you change into pajamas or something? It's about 9:35, isn't it? You can use my room, since you'll be sleeping in there." 

Kuroko blinked, then nodded, shuffling down the hall to Kagami's room. The apartment already smelled a little like Kagami, but his room especially. Unscented soap,   
Old Spice deodorant, and something else that Kuroko couldn't quite place that was distinctly Kagami but also distinctly musky. 

It was nice. 

It took him a little while to change, and he took his time, but eventually he crept quietly out of the room and settled down next to his friend who was staring into space. He looked at Kuroko after he noticed the shift of the couch cushion. 

"Sorry again for dragging you here, Kuroko."

"No, it's fine. As I said over the phone, I could not sleep either. Playing Aomine-kun again... I don't think we can afford to lose. And I certainly don't want to let Kiyoshi-senpai down." 

Kagami, hearing Kuroko say, presumably, exactly what he'd been thinking, exhaled heavily and seemed to deflate onto the couch. 

"Yeah. It's a relief to know you feel the same. We've got a lot to prove, and a lot at stake." 

"Of course I feel the same. If only you'd told me sooner, you would not have felt so anxious until now, Bakagami. Sharing your feelings doesn't make you any less manly, you know." Kuroko teased.

Kagami sputtered at that, blushing a little. 

"It's not anything about manliness! It's like, the opposite of that! I'm bein' all sensitive and stupid 'cuz I know Aomine's a sore topic for you and I'm so worried about everything and I always feel like I don't have any right to talk to you about him until I prove myself or something!" Kagami spoke, barely taking a breath and then glaring at the wall in front of him. Kuroko was honestly a bit startled.

"Kagami-kun... You've more than proven yourself to myself and the entire team." 

"Yeah but... What if Aomine's right? What if I'm not a good enough partner for you? What if I'm holding you back? Aomine was your partner before I was, and... And maybe he was better for you."

Kuroko was silent, lips pursed. He glanced at Kagami's tense posture and worry-creased face, and frowned. 

Then he jabbed Bakagami in the ribs as forcefully as he could.

"Ouch! What the hell was that for, bastard?!" Kagami barked, clutching at his ribs in pain, face pinched and red. 

"You really are a Bakagami. Perhaps you haven't noticed, but YOU are my partner now, not Aomine-kun. And perhaps you do not recall but I said I would make you the best in Japan. Just because we are no longer dependent on each other does not mean that we are no longer partners. I thought we had cleared that up, you idiot. It's not like you to doubt yourself, or even me." Kuroko said, lips drawn in a straight line. 

"Yeah. You're right. It's just... I need to improve so much more. There's a lot I need to get better at and... And I can do it. I WILL do it, believe me. But, I don't know if I deserve... This." Kagami waved a hand between the two of them.

"... This?" Kuroko repeated, blue brows inching closer to each other.

"I can't... I can't explain it. This... This thing. This partnership. For some reason it feels... Big, sometimes. Like... Like when you look at the sky and suddenly realize that you're tiny and that the earth is huge and that you can't even imagine how big the rest of the universe is. I'm tiny but together we're big. Like the earth... Or like, Jupiter. The sun. I dunno." 

Kuroko's eyes widened. And yeah. 

Yeah. 

Kagami, for once, was right. Kuroko was tiny, not even a speck on the radar, a trace of black matter, unseen in the sky. The Generation of Miracles were planets. Kagami was a meteor that flew into Kuroko, and somehow they exploded into something large, a Supernova that had to potential to outshine even the Generation of Miracles. Not yet, but...

All they had to do was collide just right. That hadn't yet, but...

Inevitably, things change. 

"For once," Kuroko said, schooling his face into a mask of neutrality, "you are making sense. I know, amazingly, exactly what you mean. And I think that we both deserve it. No... I know that we do."

Kagami sighed, and his face smoothed out more. A tiny smile surfaced on the redhead'a face. Kuroko smiled microscopically. 

Then Kagami suddenly frowned.

"Also... I hate it when Aomine calls you Tetsu." 

Kuroko was taken aback, a bit. He didn't mind it so much; though he and Aomine were not nearly close enough anymore for the casual nickname to hold any meaning, Kuroko had simply figured that old habits died hard. 

But hearing Kagami say it for the first time made his chest flutter for the second time that night. 

Maybe it did hold some weight, after all.

"Oh?" was all he said, for now.

"Yeah. It's so familiar. He doesn't deserve to call you that, after what he did. And Tatsuya doesn't deserve to call me Taiga after up and leaving me in the dust. I mean, I get why they did it I guess, but... The ends just don't justify the means. You deserve more than some guy leaving you without an explanation and then trying to assert his claim over you with a stupid pet name, like you're an object and not a person. Like he's saving you for later, after he fixes his own personal issues. You deserve more than that." 

Kuroko felt his chest flutter a third time. He wondered if three strikes meant he was out. Also, he was confused. Very confused. 

Kagami was right. 

The world shifted a few degrees under him. Realization settled into place with a resounding yet satisfying 'click,' and yeah, he did deserve more than that. 

He'd known that all along, and he knew exactly what he wanted. And he'd be damned if he was going to keep on letting it slip out of his fingers.

Things change. Sometimes very quickly. Sometimes not so quickly. 

Things were going to change soon, if Kuroko had anything to say about it.

Thankfully, Kuroko, like a skilled chemist, knew how to set off a reaction. Or so he thought.

"So, does this mean that Kagami-kun has an idea of what I deserve?" 

Trap in place.

"I think we should start with a win tomorrow, at the very least." Kagami replied after some thought, side-eyeing Kuroko and choosing his words carefully for once. 

"Well, since we've established that Kagami deserves our 'big' partnership, I feel as if I'm entitled to more than just a win." 

Bait in trap. 

"... What? Do you want me to buy you a milkshake after the game or something?" 

Well, he didn't earn the nickname "Bakagami" by being perceptive, now did he?

"Of course, Kagami-kun. But I feel as if I've been kept from a reward a long time in the making, don't you think?" Kagami turned his head and looked Kuroko in the eyes, confusion evident in his fiery irises.

Kuroko sighed. 

The trap and its bait were nudged closer.

"Uh..." Kagami uttered, scratching his head. 

"I want Bakagami to be able to realize subtext for once."

"Sub what?"

Kuroko let out another long-suffering sigh before speaking.

"Did you not just tell me that our bond is monumental and that I deserve more?"

Trap nudged closer still. 

"Yeah."

"Well. Put those two together."

Trap nudged literally directly next to target. Literally adjacent.

"So you want more... But from this thing we have."

"Yes! Exactly!" Kuroko smiled minutely, letting his happiness get the better of him for just a second. 

"Ah! Okay, I get it! If you wanted to hang out more we totally could. Tonight's a good start!" Kagami said, grinning excitedly like an idiot. 

Kuroko frowned and narrowed his eyes. 

"What?" Kagami said, noticing Kuroko's expression and looking concerned. "Are you feeling okay? Do you need water? Are you really tired or something? Kuroko?"

"Bakagami, look at me." Kagami did.

"Now lean in very close to my face because I need to tell you something and I need you to hear it." Kuroko ordered, very seriously, mouth pulled taught in a severe line. 

"O-okay?" Kagami said, doing as he was told. He leaned within a few inches of Kuroko's face, hunched forward and seconds from fleeing, it seemed, as his complexion resembled that of a tomato's.

"Is this close enough? Ku-kuro-" Before Kagami knew what was happening, Kuroko had grasped his stupid red face between his strong, pale hands and tangled his fingers into ridiculous, unruly red hair and looked into surprised, idiotic red eyes as he kissed Kagami with all of the feelings he hadn't been able to show for so long before. 

Target's head forcibly shoved into trap.

When they broke apart, Kagami looked surprised. Then he looked confused. Then he looked happy. 

He clutched Kuroko to him, enveloping him in strong arms and not saying much besides 'oh' and 'yeah, okay.' 

He repeated the words as if in shock, hugging Kuroko tightly.

"Is Kagami-kun alright?" Kuroko asked, patting his back a little awkwardly. Kagami's knee was digging into his leg uncomfortably. He didn't mind so much.

"Yeah. I'm..." Kagami took a deep breath, "I wish I'd done something sooner, I just... I never thought that you'd... Oh, man." 

"Kagami-kun?" 

"Hmm?"

"I want to kiss you again. And I'm tired. Let's go to your room, and... What's the saying... Kill two birds with one stone?" Kuroko said, easing Kagami's arms off him and grabbing his hand. Kagami blushed beet red but followed him anyway. 

They laid down in Kagami's bed, and Kuroko inhaled deeply. He loved the smell and the idiot it belonged to. He faced his aforementioned idiot and drew Taiga's face closer with his hands, and kissed him softly again, and again, and again. 

Both of their eyes were half-closed now, and Kagami reached over his partner to the nightstand and set the alarm. Kuroko shifted closer, and Kagami draped an arm over him. 

"Thanks, Kuroko... I think I can sleep now." Kagami smiled brightly, though the shine was dimmed by fatigue.

"Good." Kuroko smiled serenely, feeling himself drifting off. 

"Let's win, okay?" Kagami mumbled, pressing Kuroko to his broad chest. 

"Of course." Kuroko replied quietly but firmly, snuggling closer. 

The both drifted off, the bedside clock reading about 10:32 pm.

 

They won.

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading! Kagakuro has become my new OTP. 
> 
> Oh no.


End file.
